Benites of buying Aquilani was wrong he is now asking more time. I believe that Aquilani is week. This article he is asking more time. Rafael benitez believes the example of Xabi Alonso shows why it will take time for Alberto Aquilani to produce his best form for Liverpool.

Aquilani’s start in the 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur last Wednesday was only his fifth since a £20million arrival last summer from Roma.

The Italian made a belated debut in October after recovering from an ankle operation and has subsequently been striving to improve his match fitness while acclimatising to the English game.

Benitez has questioned the scrutiny Aquilani has found himself subject to in comparison to other big-money Premier League signings.

And the Anfield manager has renewed his call for patience while recalling how Alonso, the player Aquilani was bought to replace, also took time to settle.

“It is a question of time, ” said Benitez. “Alonso needed time to play at his level, Aquilani will need time. That is normal for players with quality.

“Analyse the signings of the other teams, but I know one team who has signed a player costing £20m and they are not playing any games. Nobody talks about them.

“You can find in any club a lot of players who cost a lot of money and they are not playing. When we don’t play one player you have people talking all the time. I don’t see that in other teams. I know we are important, but.... ”

Benitez received criticism in some quarters for the decision not to start with Aquilani in the 1-1 draw at Stoke City last weekend.

But he said: “We played against Reading 120 minutes and we had an early kick-off. Don’t forget Aquilani has been four months without training, he is not fully fit, he is improving but he has had problems.

“It is not a case that as soon as you are fit you can play 90 minutes, then 120 minutes a few days later and then 90 minutes. We know we are watching the players every training session and we try and choose the best players for each game